Marandi
no to
poll ties

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Ranchi, Aug. 3: JVM chief Babulal Marandi today said he had no plan to return to the BJP or join hands with any other political party ahead of the Assembly elections.

Reeling under a “political crisis” after seven of 11 party MLAs joined the BJP, Marandi said he had charted a different path to provide the people of Jharkhand an alternative and his real battle was not yet over.

“I quit the BJP in 2006 because the party had surrendered before corrupt forces. Again, they have inducted Lalchand Mahto (the former JD(U) minister who pulled down the Marandi-led government in 2003), then how can I return to the BJP fold. I have nurtured the JVM with my sweat and blood over the years and cannot dump it only because some crises have emerged,” the former chief minister said on the sidelines of JVM’s two-day central working committee meeting in Ranchi.

Marandi said these MLAs had made tall promises to common voters and party workers during the recent Lok Sabha elections but failed to win their support. “Now, they have joined BJP with the hope that people will give them another chance,” he added.